Gantskhudag Clean Water Project

Male prisoners in the Ulaanbaatar gaol have access to clean drinking and washing water since the new pumping station was officially launched on Tuesday November 1.

The water supply was installed by the hard work and dedication of Australian Martin Stielow, who runs the Pegasus Immigration service.

From bitter experience, Stielow knew that water had until last week been carted by truck from ger district outlets, and was not sufficient in quality nor quantity.

He agreed with UN Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak that conditions in the gaol were “totally unsatisfactory,” and determined to do something about it.

He raised assistance in cash and materials and earlier this year set about drilling for fresh water supplies, which were finally located outside the prison at a depth of about 85 metres.

Last week, lamas blessed the pumphouse, and when the prison warden ceremonially pressed the start button, water gushed into the prison storage tanks, delivering thousands of litres an hour.

Stielow pointed out that Chinggis Khaan was able to conquer most of the known world because he enlisted the support of allies, and that similarly, the best way to achieve something is with allies.

A plaque to commemorate the event lists those who helped the project, in part reading, “Where there is water, there is life; where there is life, there is hope.”

Stielow bemoaned the fact that no one from the government or opposition, nor anyone representing the prison service except the warden, felt able to attend the event, despite its importance to Mongolia’s reputation for observation of basic human rights.

An Amnesty International representative also expressed disappointment at the absence of important invited guests.

The warden, said Stielow, has shown his appreciation of the importance of clean water by stationing a man in the pumphouse to ensure that there is running water at the coldest time of year, so that it does not freeze up, and to ensure that at all times, the prison has full water tanks.

He has also offered Stielow an office in the prison. The Australian said that this was only the first stage in his campaign to make the prison conform to international standards.

An email in praise of Stielow from an ADRA representative in part read, “I don’t think you need to do a good thing ever again—your existence is justified.”

Australian Martin Stielow is improving conditions in the Mongolian gaol where he once languished.

He was arrested and locked up until a hunger strike resulted in release; he has since been completely exonerated by the Mongolian courts, with an apology.

But he was determined that no one should be locked away in the conditions he had experienced inside.

Water is usually carted (five trips every two days) from a source in a nearby ger district, built on an old rubbish dump, and very contaminated. It is then stored at the gaol in a cast-iron tank, and collected in plastic bags from a tap.

Stielow hired a drilling team that located an underground source of clean, potable water 85 metres down, with sufficient pressure.

He has now installed pipes and built a low-pressure pumphouse in a scheme estimated so far to be worth around $70,000.

“All the materials have been donated, as has my time and that of others,” Stielow said.

Next week is the opening of the pumphouse, when the first clean water will be piped into the prison.

He said that this, however, was not the end of his help for prisoners and the dreadful conditions.

“When I was there, we slept on wooden boards. Often there were so many prisoners in the cells that some had to sleep on the bare concrete, even in the bitter cold.”